Taniya Mishra and Amanda Stent on Pathways to Artificial Intelligence

Dec 6, 2023

Dr. Amanda Stent and Dr. Taniya Mishra discuss AI pathways and the collaboration between Colby College and Sure Start. They highlight the importance of creating pathways to bring more people into AI and ML, the role of interdisciplinary approaches in teaching computational thinking, and the significance of an entrepreneurial mindset in the field. They also explore Sure Start, an AI-focused education startup, and discuss the importance of ethics in AI and responsible AI principles.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Introduction to AI and ML

01:40 • 14min

Challenges and Pathways to Computational Sciences

15:50 • 2min

Importance of Entrepreneurial Mindset and Deep Content Expertise in AI

17:51 • 2min

Sure Start: AI-Focused Education and Innovation Programs

19:34 • 8min

Importance of Ethics and Responsible AI Principles

27:49 • 2min

This episode of the Getting Smart Podcast is a part of our New Pathways campaign. In partnership with American Student Assistance (ASA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stand Together and the Walton Family Foundation, the New Pathways campaign will question education’s status quo and propose new methods of giving students a chance to experience success in what’s next.

On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Tom Vander Ark is joined by Dr. Amanda Stent, director of the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Dr Taniya Mishra, founder and CEO of SureStart. Administered by Colby’s Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship, the summer-long SureStart curriculum at Colby evolved from a longtime friendship between the two guests.

The Davis Institute for AI facilitates interdisciplinary, human-centered scholarship using rich datasets with real-world consequences and prepares students for a future where AI is transforming industries, careers, and modes of discovery, creativity, and scholarship.

A new generation of ethical AI designers spent eight weeks at Colby this summer for a start-up boot camp called SureStart. In addition to nine rising sophomores from Colby, the program attracted four students from partner school Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nation’s first degree-granting historically black college or university. The program aimed to teach students with an interest in AI skills to develop a well-researched and market-ready product that solves a real-world problem with a convenient and cost-effective solution. Students also had the opportunity to work with SureStart mentors including partners from organizations such as Alethea, Lockheed Martin, and Bloomberg Second Measure.

This episode highlights the programs and connections that got this initiative started.

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